


Unquiet Night

by Nellancholy



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Snippets, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-11 00:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18671125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nellancholy/pseuds/Nellancholy
Summary: Scenes from the bands' Christmas party.(My submission for the 2018 BanG Dream! Secret Santa over on Tumblr,which I may as well post here now.)





	Unquiet Night

The stars shone faintly through the cold night sky as the Christmas party at Ryuseido proceeded in earnest. Plans for a Christmas concert at Circle had unfortunately fallen through, but with just a tiny bit of prodding from Kasumi and Otae, Arisa relented, letting the bands at least have a party at her house.

 

Kokoro and Hina sat in the garden, staring wistfully up at the glimmering sky. Kokoro blinked a few times, as though struggling to remember something. Finally, she spoke, her voice a low murmur. “Hey, Hina-chan? I just remembered the star we claimed back on that stargazing trip! I wonder how it’s doing right now?”

 

Hina chuckled. “You mean the ‘Golden Drop’? See,I named it that because of your golden hair, and-” She paused, shaking her head. Getting up, she ambled over to her telescope, peering into the lens as she made a few gentle adjustments. “Oh…” Just for a moment, Hina was speechless as she looked at that distant, remote point of golden light. “…it’s still so beautiful.”

 

Kokoro hopped to her feet, gently nudging Hina’s face aside with her own. “Wow…the ‘Golden Drop’…hmmm…” She scrunched up her face, as though squinting through it would make her vision clearer. Reaching up with both hands, she began twisting and turning the knobs. Hina wasn’t one to make someone stop when they were having fun, but she didn’t particularly want her settings to get messed up either. “Um, what do you think you’re looking for, Kokoro?”

 

“Well, I just wanted to see if there’s any life on the planets and moons around our star! Imagine, they’re all living right next to the Golden Drop, but they don’t even know it…”

 

“Ahahahaha…” Laughter bubbled up between Hina’s lips. “W-well…” She stood up, taking Kokoro’s hand. With her other hand, she gently cupped Kokoro’s chin, guiding her to look back up at the sky. Now that they’d identified it, they could make out their star amongst all the others.

 

“...Who do you think is living all the way over there? What do you think they’re doing?”

 

* * *

 

 

Princess Chisatino’s heels clinked on the steel of the battleship, a retinue of guards flanking her in tight formation. With this, the decisive battle won, the Weisschloss Empire would be able to absorb a quarter of the galaxy under its banner.

 

The Princess’ starmetal rapier sat firmly in her palm, its sharp point scraping over the floor for effect. As they entered the bridge, a grisly scene met them. Crew either disintegrated or crushed. Hardly any blood, their pulse torpedoes were elegant enough to destroy without leaving a trace.

 

But there, under a chunk of the ceiling-

 

Chisatino clicked over, her steps half a second faster than they were before.

 

There, a gleaming shock of purple hair-

 

“Prince Kaoway.” The Princess’ lips pursed. “You…”

 

For a moment, she hesitated. “Our kinetic barriers were disabled. You could have destroyed us in a single concentrated bombardment. But you…you let us escape out of your range and allowed us the chance to counterattack. Why…?”

 

A cough escaped the Prince’s lips. The pressure on her abdomen would soon make it impossible for her to breathe. But not quite yet. “Ah…my lady Weisschloss. I must’ve…” She gagged, coughing up a few drops of blood. “I must’ve…expected you to accept my mercy and withdraw altogether from the field. But…if I am to be honest with you…even knowing what was coming? I could…never bring myself to harm your person.” Her white gloved hand reached up, grasping futilely for Chisatino’s. “…I supposed…I enjoyed our little games of cat and mouse…a little…too much…”

An undignified wheeze escaped from Kaoway’s throat as her arm came back down. “Now…now,my lady, you stand…unopposed. Please,rule this galaxy with…dignity,with…compassion. All that love you denied me…all that love you saved up…give it…to them…instead…”

 

And with that, she breathed her last.

 

“...”

 

“...no…”

 

Chisatino knelt, her sword clattering to the floor as she took Kaoway’s head in her hands.

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“...I’m…sorry…"

 

* * *

 

“That’s…a surprisingly depressing story,isn’t it?” Arisa scoffed. “What? You spent all your happiness and haven’t gotten to buy more yet?”

 

“Well…” Kokoro put her hands on her hips. “I tried to imagine the kind of story people like you might want to read!”

 

“Hmph!” Hina puffed out her chest, putting her hands to her face in a dramatic pose. “A most…fleeting tale of love and loss, is it not? Now, little kitten, shall we-” A firm punch in her arm cut her off.

 

“Save it. It’s not a good look on you.” Arisa turned to her side slightly, examining the leaves on one of her bonsai. “…and do I really look like the kind of person who watches tearjerkers just to have my tears jerked? Anyway, I came out to tell you guys that Kanon and Aya are back from Burger Smile. You better go get it before Kasumi and Rimi overeat again.”

 

“Oh, Burger Smile! Haven’t had that in a while…” And with that, Hina and Kokoro disappeared into the house.

 

“...”

 

With them gone, Arisa was surrounded by the peaceful almost-silence of night. Curiosity tugged at her, slowly easing her towards the telescope. Cautiously, she leaned over, peering into the viewfinder. As expected, she couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was looking at. Some people could name every star in the sky on a given night, but she definitely wasn’t one of them. It sure was a nice view, though…

 

“By the way, I’m pretty sure you cried at  _Wave of the Dragonflies_. And  _Shinomon: The Movie_. And  _Ultrasonic_ -”

 

“Those are different! I was just-” Jerking her head up from the telescope, Arisa locked eyes with Tae. “-oh.” Quickly ,she tilted the telescope over to Tae a little, rushing to change the topic. “See, Otae? A-aren’t the stars lovely tonight?”

 

“Mm.” Tae leaned in, peering into the viewfinder. “They sure are awfully bright tonight.” Standing straight again, she held up one hand with her index and middle fingers curved out. “Hm…”

 

“What are you staring at now?”

 

“People in the past just named constellations based on whatever their positions looked like to them, right?” As though emphasizing her point, Tae wiggled her fingers. “Look, it’s Oddie.”

 

Arisa sighed, shaking her head. “You know…I kinda see it.”

 

“Or maybe…” Tae turned her hand, extending her index and little finger instead, in a vague approximation of their friend’s cat ear hair. “It’s Kasumi.”

 

“Pfft!” Arisa couldn’t help but laugh a little. “With all that talk about stars…”

 

With one of Arisa’s rare smiles finally showing itself, Tae’s grin widened. Holding up her other hand, she made the same gesture, but pointing down in an imitation of pigtails. “And this is Arisa. See, they even share one star between them- ow ow ow!”

 

She didn’t get any further before Arisa started pinching her cheek.

 

* * *

 

 

Kasumi carefully hefted the acoustic guitar she found in Ryuseido’s basement, careful to have wiped her hands first. And she did it even without Arisa nagging her about getting grease on things. She made a mental note that that was worth an extra piece of cake. Running her fingers over the fretboard to familiarize herself with the wider frets, she tentatively plinked out a few chords.

 

“Hm…”

 

There was that one American song that was pretty popular years ago…

 

Her grip firmer this time, she pressed down on the frets, strumming in time.

 

To her surprise, a softly crooning voice behind her supplied the lyrics.

 

_You sit there in your_

_Heartache_

_Waiting on some beautiful boy to_

_To save you from your old ways_

_You played forgiveness_

_Watch it now, here he comes_

 

“...Eh?” Kasumi stopped after the first two bars, turning around. “Misaki-chan?”

 

“Um.” She froze, as though she’d actually expected to sing an entire verse to Kasumi without her knowing who she was. “Well, h-hi?”

 

Kasumi chuckled. “Aw, don’t be shy. I…I liked your voice!” She swayed a little,waving the neck of the guitar in the air. “You could definitely do well playing in a band or something…”

 

“Hm.” Misaki exhaled. “…between school, tennis club, and my…part time job, I don’t think I’d have the energy for band,too.” Well, it wasn’t a lie. Most days it was a miracle that she was able to do the Michelle stuff, which included dealing with her rambunctious bandmates.

 

“Ah…I understand.” Kasumi’s smile didn’t fade. Her hand gripped the fretboard again. “Well, that just means you gotta sing every chance you get, huh?”

 

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but if you wanna hear more…then I guess this is for you.”

 

Kasumi nodded, patting the fretboard to count them both in as they took a deep breath in to harmonize.

 

_He doesn’t look a thing like Jeeeee-sus_

_But he talks like a gentleman_

_Like you imagined him_

_When you_

_Were yoooung_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Saaya grinned, eyeing her redheaded acquaintance across the table. “So…Tomoe. Wanna…wrestle?”

 

Tomoe blinked, quickly gulping her mouthful of apple juice down so she couldn’t spit it out. “…what?”

 

“Oh, don’t mind me…” Saaya waved her hand. “It’s just that…this is kind of one of our get-togethers that isn’t a school or Circle event. The mood feels different, doesn’t it? And my mind just wandered to how drumming is pretty good exercise for the arms, so…”

 

“Ah.” Tomoe paused for a moment, before placing her elbow on the table, a smile forming on her face. “…sure. Let’s go.”

 

It was Saaya’s turn to gulp. “…ooookay. Let’s go.”

 

By now, quite a few others had gathered around the table, drawn by their conversation.

 

“B-be careful Saaya! D-don’t hurt yourself…” Rimi frowned.

 

Already swept up in the mood, Ako balled up her fists. “You show her, sis! Unleash the blazing might of Pandemonium!”

 

“Heh. My money’s on-” Moca paused, opening her wallet. “-uh,one of the left over Smiley Beef Burgers on Tomoe.”

 

“Look, we’ve got ourselves an audience.” Saaya laughed. “…this is practically a concert. We can still not do this if you want…”

 

“Hell no.” Tomoe leaned in, returning a smile as she grabbed Saaya’s hand. “Let’s find out who thestrongest drummer is, right here.”

 

Moca put her fingers to her lips, ready to whistle. “Come on, Tomoe. Win Moca a Double Decker Supreme…”

 

Joining in the spectacle, Aya raised her hand. “Ready,set! Three, two, one…”

 

_Fweeeeep!_

 

* * *

 

 

“Will you guys…QUIET DOWN?!” The front door swung open, interrupting the resounding cheers at the end of the arm wrestling match. Arisa strode in, the room falling silent. As though she hadn’t just yelled louder than any of them, she continued. “A-ahem, it’s almost midnight, so if you’re not in Poppin’ Party, I’m sure you have your own travel arrangements to return home, because you’re definitely not sleeping over.” She glanced over at Aya. “Y’know, I’m kinda surprised Shirasagi-san isn’t here.”

 

“...oh?” Aya blinked, her head still blank from the yelling. “W-well yeah, she said she had to screentest for a new movie or something…”

 

“New movie?” Tae shrugged. “Maybe it’s  _Ultrasonic 2_ , finally being produced after 15 years of development hell…”

 

Arisa shot her a sharp glance. “A-anyway…you guys better start cleaning up. Grandmother doesn’t want to see a single stain or stray sheet of paper around when she comes back down…”

 

* * *

 

With everything cleaned up, and the last visitor seen off safely, the members of Poppin’ Party lay on futons in the basement of Ryuseido.

 

Much more relaxed now, Arisa let her hand wander, brushing against Kasumi’s arm. “So this is it, huh…one year over…another starting…time keeps passing by.”

 

Saaya rolled over, glancing back at Arisa. “You sound…a little morose. Something bothering you?”

 

“...” Arisa sighed. “Nothing’s bothering me. ‘Nothing’ is bothering me…I guess I just…don’t know what to expect next year. And that feels…strange…”

 

“Awww…” Kasumi popped up, acoustic guitar somehow already in hand. “…you know, the one thing you can always expect is for us to keep being the best of friends! And for Poppin’ Party to give it our all next year, too!” Unbidden, she began to strum softly. “ _Twinkle, twinkle, little star…_ ”

 

Tae’s eyes flashed. “I am…trying…to get some sleep,please.”

 

“Oh,sorry…” Kasumi stuck her tongue out, setting the guitar down with a soft bonk.

 

“Hey, watch it!” Arisa gasped.

 

“Well, you heard Lady Otae.” Saaya rolled her eyes,smiling. “Back to sleep, girls.” Reaching a little to the side, her thin, calloused hand held Arisa’s left. Kasumi’s held Arisa’s right.

 

As her eyes closed, Arisa felt a stream of peace bubble up inside her. Yes…maybe she couldn’t see what next year held, just a few days away. But she’d wake up tomorrow, and her friends would be here, and they still had so much ahead of them together.

 

Far above them, the stars shone bright, like they always did.


End file.
